Caller desperately pleas for Blue Story ban despite not having watched film

25 November 2019, 17:49

The caller, who hasn't watched the film, made a desperate plea for it to be banned to stop knife crime and gang violence.

Hez, from South Croydon, wants the film banned in response to the mass brawl that happened in Birmingham.

She told Shelagh Fogarty: "I actually do think it should be banned and, Shelagh, I haven't seen the film so you know, I'm not going to say but I'm kind of sick of this same thing all the time.

"These film come out, these people do their talking and all of this stuff. It's just a handful of really bad behaviour that we're not, the government, no one's doing anything about it.

"All we have is talk, talk, talk. Never hear about the mothers, all the all the parents or guardians who come out and do any talking. It's the same old thing.

"When I saw that picture of these young people, and one holding the machete, my goodness, I'm thinking what have we come to in this country.

"But they actually think it's okay. I really cannot think that my son would think of leaving the house., would ever, ever think of walking out of the home with these machete knives.

"Now, Shelagh, we also have to think about this. The film wouldn't have been banned but for the behaviour of these few.

"I don't believe it's all young people. I do work with young people and there's some great ones out there.

"But let's stop showing this gang violence. We hear about it. I'm sure people are sick of it, to be honest with you.

And I'm so sick of it now I'm actually thinking of leaving this country."

Shelagh put it to her that perhaps we're tired of the problem because of the "frequency" and a "complete misunderstanding of what's leading to the crime."

She added: "It seems to me having seen the film, that Blue Story would go some way to explaining what's leading to it and even if no single adult did anything different, if one child did something different because of it, that would be a success, wouldn't it?"

The caller said that this "epidemic" has been going on for a long time and perhaps the solution is to ask parents to have "parenting classes" before they even have children. She spoke about having "responsibility" for her children.

Shelagh urger Hez to watch the film because she might "have more understanding of the position of some of the parents in the stories".